They Came Back / Les Revenants

1/10/2017, 22:30, Odeon Opera 1

The lives of the residents of a small French village change irreparably when the unthinkable happens and the dead come back to life claiming a place in society and in the hearts of those they left behind. In his first directorial attempt, Campillo offers a haunting and deeply atmospheric thriller which focuses on the eternal and unsolvable mysteries of life. Its grand reception inspired the extremely successful similarly titled TV series.

They Came Back

The lives of the residents in a small French village change irrevocably when the unthinkable happens: their dead relatives come back to life, bringing along memories of death and claiming anew a place in society and in the hearts of those they left behind.

In his directing debut, Robin Campillo depicts “those who came back” as white ghosts seen through a thermal camera documenting every move and taking the action form collective to personal through concurrent subplots. The result is a claustrophobic and unusual thriller which ruins the only and non-negotiable certainty of human existence and is reflected symbolically on today’s global refugee crisis. The film has been an inspiration for the very successful titular 2012 French TV series.